Some agitation was manifested at this time in consequence of certain favors received by those who then on the banks of the Missouri River were permitted to have more than one wife. Respecting this President Young is quoted as saying: "Some young men are jealous for fear I shall receive more blessings, more wives, or some other blessings than themselves. These men have never preached the gospel in their lives. If they will travel the world over in poverty as I have done and on foot with blood in their shoes and spend years and years to save the world they will cease to be jealous of the blessings that I enjoy. A woman who has the spirit of God will join herself to a good man who honors and bears the Holy Priesthood. Such a man, if he continues faithful, will be saved in eternal glory and all who are with him.
"I am determined that my affections shall be with God. I will not allow them to be placed upon things that perish. When plagues and disease get hold of our bodies we become loathsome, our beauty fades away. Our affections should be placed upon things that are noble, exalted, lasting, and glorious. I love an exalted mind, it is eternal and cannot fade. I want all my affections to be subject to God and to the principles of glory and eternal life."
A pleasure loving camp in those days had many of the same temptations that beset the pleasure loving world now. Those, then, in whose minds every thing was associated with a pleasure loving spirit attributed self gratification to the motives of their leaders who were then inculcating faith by teaching and practicing the doctrine of plural marriage.
On the 23rd of September the Saints removed their encampment from the prairie ridge where they had been located to the tableland on the bank of the Missouri River. At the latter place a townsite was laid out into blocks, 120 by 40 rods. Each block was divided into lots four by ten.
Two days later Daniel H. Wells and Elder Cutler arrived from Nauvoo. At the meeting on Sunday afternoon of the 27th they gave an account of the Battle of Nauvoo, where the Saints were engaged in resisting the encroaching mob. Three of the Saints were killed and two wounded. It was never known how many of the mob lost their lives. The skirmish resulted in a treaty which required the Saints to leave the city within five days. The little remnant of those compelled to leave was composed chiefly of men and women whose circumstances did not permit them to leave with the main body of the Church. A few remained to protect the property rights of the people who had been driven from the city. There were a few who fostered some lingering thoughts of returning to Nauvoo, or of mercenary advantages in days to come. These property rights which the Saints sought to retain only excited the cupidity and murderous disposition of the mob. It was the property of the Saints they craved and bloodshed did not stand between them and the cravings of their own selfish dispositions. This lingering remnant was, therefore, inhumanely treated and driven into the wilderness without provisions and without shelter. Their distress was pitiful. The Battle of Nauvoo removed from the hearts of all the Saints the last lingering hope of any return to that city. All was gone, their property rights destroyed, and their homes passed to new ownerships. The destruction of all hope in their return to the city they loved made their undertaking in a new and perilous journey the only thing to be reckoned with.
The first Sunday in October, Orson Pratt, Amasa Lyman, and Wilford Woodruff began the organization of the new city of Winter Quarters. It was divided into 13 wards, with a bishop over each. Thus, responsibility was extended and order more firmly established throughout the Camp.
On the 15th Elder Woodruff met with one of those serious experiences recorded in his chapter of accidents. He was struck by a falling tree and disabled for a number of weeks. While he was recovering his little son Joseph was stricken with disease and died on the 12th of November.
On the 17th of that month Elder Woodruff took up again his manual labor. Writing in his journal of those times he says: "I had never seen the Latter-day Saints in any situation where they seemed to be passing through greater tribulations. After being exposed to the sufferings of a tedious journey of ten months in tents and wagons, they were obliged to build a city of log houses numbering more than one thousand. All this work had only a temporary enjoyment. We had to go a great distance for wood and timber, and it was difficult to secure from the deep ravines and hollows where we found it. The labor was hard to endure. I was endeavoring to build a log house for myself and one for my father."
Quite a number died during the winter of 1846-47, in Winter Quarters. Elder Woodruff records the death of Sister Benbow, the wife of his time-honored friend.
On the 8th of December there was born to him a son whom he named Ezra who lived only a few days and was buried by the side of his brother Joseph. Thus afflictions and death visited the Saints while they were camping along the banks of the Missouri River. By the close of that year their numbers reached 3483. Christmas day was duly observed and such joy and such gratitude as were possible under the circumstances were manifested throughout the Camp.